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Farscape: Back and Back and Back to the Future
"Back and Back and Back to the Future" is the third episode of season one of the science fiction television series Farscape. The episode was directed by Rowan Woods with a screenplay written by Babs Greyhosky. It first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on Friday, April 2nd, 1999. After rescuing two aliens from their disintegrating ship, Crichton and D'Argo fall victim to very strange effects, apparently from the very presence of the alien female. Soon, Crichton begins experiencing "future flashes" where he is attacked by her -- both sexually and fatally. Is Crichton losing his mind? Or does he now, mysteriously, have the gift of prophecy? More importantly, can he change the horrible, prophetic future he sees? Farscape: The Complete Season One; Disc One; liner notes Synopsis vessel in peril.]] As Moya is passing through the Uncharted Territories, it comes upon a malfunctioning ship. As they scan the crew, D'Argo recognizes them as Ilanic - blood cousins of the Luxans. They bring the two passengers, Verell and Matala aboard Moya while John Crichton checks out the ship. Surveying the instrument panel, he suffers a massive electric shock, which causes a strange distortion effect. The two Ilanics get into their shuttle and are taken into Moya's cargo bay. Verell and Matala are extremely protective of their cargo, but Matala is relieved to find that it is still safe. Aeryn Sun wants to know what the cargo is, but Matala refuses to tell anything to a Peacekeeper. John assures her that Aeryn is now "retired". D'Argo offers them the services of the crew and says that they will transport them to their pre-arranged rendezvous point where they will deliver their cargo to another ship. John suddenly experiences a vary strange vision. He sees an image of Matala salaciously groping at him. Aeryn asks him what is the matter, but John dismisses it as nothing. While Zhaan updates Moya's coordinates, D'Argo welcomes Verell and Matala aboard the ship and offers them his services. He is particularly taken with Matala and everyone notices how attracted to he is to her. Pilot chimes in and tells the others that they will reach their destination point in 12 arns (hours). Aeryn takes it upon herself to board the Ilanic shuttle and begins scanning their equipment. She is suspicious of whatever cargo they might be carrying. Matala interrupts her and stops Aeryn from continuing. The two bristle at one another and nearly come to blows. Crichton meanwhile, experiences another strange vision. In this one, he sees an image of Matala turning against them, breaking D'Argo's neck and then his own. John tries to talk to D'Argo to warn him that Matala may not be all that she seems. D'Argo, clearly smitten with the alien woman, feels that John is just trying to discourage him from pursuing her so that he can be with her instead. John is befuddled by the notion and doesn't even think the two are compatible. As things grow heated between them, Verell enters the room and invites D'Argo to his workshop area for some tea. Meanwhile, Zhaan visits Rygel who is busy stuffing his face with food. She feels that Moya "sounds wrong" and asks Rygel to listen to the ship to confirm her fears. Rygel senses nothing and continues eating. Zhaan fears the ship is out of balance. In order to vent their respective frustrations, Aeryn and Matala go below decks to engage in some physical training. As they spar, they exchange insults and Matala ultimately defeats Aeryn by way of a special two-fingered death strike. She then leaves the room and runs into Zhaan. They go back to Verell's workshop where the Ilanic finally reveals the nature of their cargo. They have developed a new weapon that they were hoping to field test so that they could have a strategic advantage against their foes, the Scorvians. It is a weapon so powerful that it requires a special containment field to keep it stable. Their cruiser was unable to hold it however and it began wreaking havoc with the ship's phase couplers. This same phase imbalance now seems to be having a similar effect on Moya's systems. This is the troublesome sensation that Zhaan sensed earlier. D'Argo pledges himself to the Ilanics and vows that he will do everything he can to help them. John visits Zhaan's quarters and tells her about his visions. They determine that these are actually precognitive flashes of the future. He then has another vision wherein Matala manipulates D'Argo into running him through with his Qualta blade, after which, she then kills Verell. He realizes that this vision is different from the previous ones even though he dies in both of them. Aeryn interrupts them and says that she just found that Matala is not actually Ilanic, but Scorvian. She must have altered her appearance through genetic surgery. She knows this because during their duel, Matala used a Scorvian neural stroke against her. When john explains that D'Argo thinks that Verell and Matala are "Ilanic angels", they decide that they must confront each one separately. Pilot radios in and tells them that Moya's phase imbalance is worsening. They contact D'Argo and tell him the news. confronts Verell.]] John confronts Verell privately and warns him about Matala. Verell dismisses it and they begin talking about the temporal discharge that John experienced on the shuttle. Verell explains that this is actually a byproduct of their new weapon - a quantum singularity. Matala comes in with D'Argo. Verell asks her if she is a Scorvian spy as Crichton claims. She delivers a neural strike to D'Argo then takes his Qualta blade and uses it to shoot Verell. She then escapes aboard her shuttle just as Aeryn comes in. Aeryn fires at the ship and John yells at her to stop, but it is too late. The laser fire strikes the shuttle, discharging the black hole weapon. The singularity grows, pulling Moya into it until the ship implodes. In the next instant, John finds himself still sitting in Zhaan's room talking to her. The entire meeting in Verell's workshop was just another future flash. John finally gets the chance to confront D'Argo and warns him once again about Matala. Naturally D'Argo doesn't believe him. To convince him that his future flashes are real, John reveals information from his visions that only D'Argo would know - such as the fact that the crime that led to his imprisonment aboard Moya is not the crime that he has divulged to the others. D'Argo is willing to give Crichton the benefit of the doubt. They go to Verell's quarters and D'Argo questions Matala. Immediately suspecting her, he pulls his weapon on her. The Ilanic rendezvous ship approaches, but it is actually piloted by Scorvians waiting to pick up Matala. Matala knows that she can no longer maintain her ruse. She pulls a blade out from behind her back and stabs Verell. She then takes off with the singularity in her shuttle and prepares to meet up with her people. Before dying, Verell deactivates the containment field holding the singularity on the ship. The miniature black hole opens up and consumes the shuttle and the Scorvian spies, killing Matala in the process. Moya manages to starburst out of the affected area just in time. Once the ship is out of range of the weapon, John ceases to suffer from the temporal visions. D'Argo is solemn over the fact that Matala turned out to be a traitor. John tries to get him to open up, but D'Argo refuses to discuss personal matters with him. The room grows quiet as the two men contemplate their most recent adventure. Cast Principal Cast Guest Stars Notes & Trivia * This episode has been made available on the Farscape: The Complete First Season DVD collection, disc 2 of the Farscape: The Complete Season One DVD collection and the Farscape: The Complete Series DVD collection. "Farscape: The Complete Season One" includes episode commentary by actor Ben Browder and director Rowan Woods. * Production code number: 10105 * The title of this episode is taken from the Back to the Future film series. * Jonathan Hardy and Lani Tupu are uncredited in this episode. * This episode establishes that D'Argo has not seen his people in more than 8 cycles (years). * Pilot and Rygel XVI have minimal involvement in this episode. * Ben Browder states on the DVD commentary that he was unaware that Lani Tupu, who plays Bialar Crais, also provides the voice of Pilot. * First appearance of John Crichton's black t-shirt. According to Rowan Woods, the presence of a black t-shirt was originally meant as an indicator that an episode would feature racier material than standard episodes. One such example would have been Crichton's rape dream, which included more extensive shots that were not broadcast on the original airing or included in any of the DVD prints. The practice of the black t-shirt symbolism never really caught on however. Rowan Woods; Farscape: The Complete Season One; DVD commentary * The prosthetics used for John Clayton's makeup was very fragile and the tentacles tended to wiggle in an unfavorable fashion whenever he moved. To resolve this, the makeup team had Clayton wear a special neck brace to restrict his movements and the actor often sat in one place for more than five hours at a time during shoots without moving. Rowan Woods & Ben Browder; Farscape: The Complete Season One; DVD commentary. What else have they done? * This is the first episode of the series directed by Rowan Woods. He directs 19 episodes of Farscape in total. His next episode is "Thank God It's Friday, Again". * Lisa Hensley, who plays Matala, has also appeared in the 1996 comedy Dating the Enemy as well as 15 Amore in 1998 and the 2006 thriller Last Train to Freo. * John Clayton, who plays Verell, also had recurring roles on episodes of Police Rescue, Heartbreak High, The Flying Doctors and Big Sky. See also External Links * * "Back and Back and Back to the Future" at Wikipedia * "Back and Back and Back to the Future" at the Farscape Wiki * "Back and Back and Back to the Future" at TV.com Episode guide * "Back and Back and Back to the Future" at TV Rage.com Episode guide References ---- Category:1999/Episodes Category:April, 1999/Episodes